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No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Fatima Massey Williams papers #4424, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Handwritten transcriptions of many letters available.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Ann and Gilbert L. Arthur of Morehead City, North Carolina, in June 1985.

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The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.
• Confederate States of America. Army. North Carolina Infantry Regiment, 31st.
• Love-letters--19th century.
• Massey, Alpheus, fl. 1863-1864.
• Massey, Thrush, fl. 1863-1864.
• Soldiers--Confederate States of America--Correspondence.
• Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Wheelwrights--North Carolina.
• Williams, Fatima Massey, ca. 1840-1926.
• Williams, William T. A., 1840-ca. 1912.
• Women--North Carolina--Social life and customs.

Fatima Massey Williams, daughter of Craton Massey and Harriet Horton Massey of Wake County, North Carolina, was born around 1840. She had one sister, Irene Massey, who never married, and two brothers, Thrush and Alpheus Massey, Confederate soldiers of the 31st North Carolina Regiment.

Fatima married William T. A. Williams, a wheelwright, in October 1859 and thereafter resided in Rolesville, North Carolina. The Williamses apparently had at least one son, Robert "Bob" S. Williams, who became the mayor of Rolesville in the 1940s. There are also references in the papers to J. H. Williams and J. L. Williams, who were perhaps brothers of William or sons of William and Fatima.

Little else is known concerning the Williamses. The poor spelling of the letters indicates that neither the Masseys nor the Williamses received much formal education.

William T. A. Williams died around 1912. Fatima Massey Williams apparently died in December 1926.

Love letters, 1858-1859, other correspondence, financial and business items, a bank account book, and other miscellaneous items of Fatima Massey Williams and her husband, William T. A. Williams (1840-circa 1912), a wheelwright of Rolesville, Wake County, N.C. The correspondence includes eleven letters to the Williamses from Fatima's brothers, Thrush and Alpheus Massey, Confederate soldiers with the 31st North Carolina Regiment near Petersburg, Va., in 1863 and 1864, concerning their health, troop movements, and army life.